Director, Global Advancement, Europe

University of Chicago • Chicago, IL

3d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Advancement Office engages alumni (~220k), current students, parents, and friends of the University through intellectual, professional and social activities on campus, around the world and online. Advancement raises $600 Million annually to support faculty and researchers, practitioners and patients, and students and programs across the University. Our work supports priorities in every division, school, department, and institute. The Global Advancement Team implements a comprehensive collaborative campus-wide program that deeply engages the international community of UChicago alumni, parents, and friends with a focus on raising significant philanthropic support for the University’s top priorities, academic units, and faculty and students across the campus ecosystem. Working closely with University and academic leadership, the UChicago Global Office, academic divisions, and colleagues across ARD, the team is responsible for developing, executing, and coordinating the university’s strategic global advancement program with a goal of building a robust and sustainable donor pipeline through curated meaningful engagement opportunities and delivering $25M - $40M or more in fundraising progress annually.

The Director plans and implements a coordinated program of fundraising and engagement activities for the University of Chicago in Europe and beyond. This encompasses identification, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of major gift prospects in Europe for a wide range of the University’s units, schools and Divisions. This role will manage a personal portfolio of donors and prospects with capacity to make 6- and 7-figure+ gifts to the University. The portfolio will concentrate on the UK and continental Europe and may selectively extend to the broader EMEA region. This position will participate as a strategist in building the University’s international major gift and principal gift fundraising capacity in the region. The Director acts as a general resource and advisor to senior development colleagues, Deans and other University academic leaders whose units are active in Europe. This position requires deep specialized knowledge in the planning and implementation of development activities; typically within the undergraduate college, an academic department, a professional school, the central development office, or another University unit. Executes fundraising projects, cultivation programs for prospective donors and for advisory councils.

Requirements

• Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.
• Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 7+ years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor’s degree.
• Minimum seven years of professional experience in nonprofit management, development, alumni relations, marketing, public relations, sales or similar professional work.
• Demonstrated track record of building and maintaining long-term relationships with high-net-worth constituents such as individual major donors, private foundations or corporations.
• Minimum three years of soliciting and closing major gifts experience.
• Minimum two years developing and monitoring budgets.
• Background working with trustees, senior leadership, or other volunteer leaders.
• Background fundraising for higher education or for an international or globally focused mission.
• Foreign language proficiency.
• Knowledge of international fundraising methods and culture.
• Demonstrated skill and knowledge of, or ability to learn quickly, the internal workings of the University as well as the technology tools available to Advancement, including Phoenix, the University's Donor Relationship Management System., Proficient in a Microsoft Windows computer environment, especially Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access.
• Familiarity with European cultures; comfortable in different cultural settings and exhibit a general global sophistication.
• Demonstrated strong soft skills including an ability to form strong relationships within the University and externally; leverage volunteer leadership in advancing donor relationships; and intellectual curiosity about the work of the University.
• Demonstrated fluency in representing the interests of academic leadership to external constituents.
• Outstanding interpersonal and communications skills characterized by the ability to listen, speak, and write effectively.
• Explain complex ideas clearly and simply.
• Manage confidential information with discretion and tact.
• Act with integrity, professionalism, and confidentiality.
• Work collegially and collaboratively in a team setting.
• Self-motivated and take initiative.
• Prioritize multiple projects and independently follow through with detail.

Responsibilities

• Develops and executes a comprehensive regional engagement and major gifts strategy for Europe aligned with University fundraising priorities and campaign objectives.
• Manages a personal portfolio of 70+ high-net-worth individuals and families with capacity of $100K+, with a focus on prospects capable of $1M+ gifts.
• Builds and manages a fundraising pipeline capable of generating 20+ major gift solicitations and $4M+ in new commitments annually at steady state.
• Achieves 75+ substantive prospect visits annually.
• Leads new prospect identification and qualification efforts across Europe.
• Cultivates and stewards relationships with alumni, parents, and unaffiliated friends with significant philanthropic capacity.
• Serves as Advancement’s primary regional expert for Europe, advising senior development colleagues, Deans, Officers, and academic leaders on strategy, engagement opportunities, and relationship management.
• Partners with unit directors of development, Deans, Officers, Faculty Directors, and other University leadership to help shape and implement regional fundraising plans and drive engagement activity on behalf of these campus partners.
• Plans, briefs and accompanies University leadership (Deans, Officers, Faculty Directors, etc.) on prospect and donor visits and community engagement activities in Europe.
• Ensures alignment of regional strategies with institutional priorities and cross-campus development initiatives.
• Seeks opportunities for professional development that will enhance job performance including attending webinars, seminars, building networks within the University and with colleagues at peer institutions.
• Identifies, cultivates and solicits prospects.
• Develops strategies for cultivating participation.
• Leads the preparation of annual development reports assessing progress toward achievement of goals.
• Provides expertise to analyze and evaluate information to identify trends and patterns, evaluates strategies and makes recommendations.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Benefits

• The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off.
• Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook .

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees